Chemical pathology out-of-hours services in Beaumont and Blanchardstown hospitals following the introduction of continuous accident and emergency cover for local catchment areas.

The effect on the Chemical Pathology 'on-call' services at Beaumont and Blanchardstown hospitals of the change in the Accident and Emergency service from a regular roster covering the northern half of Dublin to continuous local catchment area cover is reported. At Beaumont, the number of patient specimens each night from the A&E department is similar to the peak level which occurred approximately every third day under the old rota system. The total continuous demand in the hospital is about 10% higher than the previously reported peak demand. At Blanchardstown by contrast, the demand from A&E has fallen by about 60% from the previous peak but services to inpatients have increased by 50% over the previous year's published figure. Thus the on-call demands for Chemical Pathology services continue to grow but there has been a large shift in demand towards the hospital with the greater catchment area.